The purpose of royal portraiture was not individual depiction but the representation of power. Artists conveyed this symbolically using traditional poses and symbols: crown, sceptre, orb and ermine robes of state. This repetition helped assert the continuity of the Royals. Although not great art patrons, such propaganda was important to George I and his son George II. In order to ensure a Protestant succession these Hanoverian rulers, from Germany, had come to the British throne in 1714. They faced constant challenge from the rebellious Catholic Jacobites until they were quashed in 1745.